Thursday, November 29, 2012

1. I mailed the last of my Christmas cards out today! First time ever in the history of anything that I have been to or done something early. I feel so accomplished. However, the sad fact is that if I am honest with myself the real reason I mailed them early is that since we moved in the last year I was worried some people wouldn't have our new address. So my narcissistic side reared it's ugly head and forced me to mail mine early so people would have record of the new address. There I said it.

2. M told me tonight that he was sure I was the one moving Calvin, his elf on the shelf, around each night. Then he proceeded to rattle off a short list of places he would rather I not hide Calvin. Bath tubs, sinks (anywhere he might get wet), outside in the weather, and anywhere he might get dirty are all off limits. Oh and he doesn't want Calvin up too high because it might be hard to find him. My first thought was that this turn of events was going to make the whole elf on the shelf thing a little complicated, but then I realized it actually makes it much easier. Tonight I randomly threw Calvin down on the kitchen floor. We'll see how this goes over in the morning. Heehee.

3. I've found a new way to help keep The Mothership clean and avoid countless mortifying visits to the vacuums at Boomerang. I simply take the dog with me anytime I go to the store or run errands and while we're in the car he scarfs down every last cheerio, french fry, skittle, and sometimes even a stray sock or two that I have in there! Brilliant and cost effective...I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.

5. My friend Devin was visiting from Texas over Thanksgiving and we got to meet her for lunch. We love our Devin and are so glad we were able to meet up with her. The below pic sort of shows the type of mood the taters were in while we were with her. It was too cold to visit outside after lunch so we went to the coffee shop next door and guess what? Turns out a small coffee shop is not really an adequate venue to house our family of five on a cold afternoon. You live and you learn folks. Our only saving grace was that the tyrant tater was looking exceptionally cute in his monkey hat and parka jacket. Otherwise I think someone may have asked us to leave.

6. I am happy to report that this evening I am at least two dollars wealthier than millions of people across this land because I didn't waste a single penny on Powerball tickets this week!! Just for laughs I'll leave you with the below I read on the web quoting the manager at one of the locations where a winning ticket was purchased. "It's almost as good as winning myself. People always say I'll throw a million your way if I win...but no one ever has. I guess now we'll just see what happens." Hmmm? Is this guy for real?

Monday, November 26, 2012

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here. Actually, it began looking like Christmas over a week ago. We put all of our lights and decorations up before Thanksgiving this year. A little early, but it worked with B's schedule and allowed us to have a long relaxing Thanksgiving weekend. The kids are really having fun with Christmas...they are excited about all the decorations!

Here we ALL are getting the tree out to decorate. This took an entire evening. Lots of little helpers make things go a wee bit slower.

Helping me test the lights.

Finished Product!

We usually have a very neutral tree and decor, but to make things more fun for the taters this year I TRIED to make things a little brighter. Added some colored balls to the tree and fun decorations for the mantel. I say that and then when I look at the pics below everything looks really neutral. I admit I might need some professional help to break me of my neutral habit. :)

I made this JOY snowflake banner...shout out to MYSELF!

Whoa look at all that color...haha

The kids helped B with the outside lights this year which was fun for them. My friend Amanda had a good idea about wrapping some big boxes to make a cute display by the front door, and I re-worked the Christmas wreath we already had to try and brighten it up. The wreath turned out a little crazy, but I am leaving it as is. I am too lazy and too cheap to keep messing with it!

I tried to toss the pumpkins, but they begged to stay

a little longer! I am thinking about painting them.

BAM! lol

Christmas music, Christmas movies, and Christmas cookies were in full effect around here this weekend! Hope your season is off to a great start!

Friday, November 23, 2012

We had our annual Thanksgiving feast at Brent's parents house yesterday. Since both of our families live here we all get together over there each year. My MIL is also one of those hostess with the mostess types so we all like to benefit from her talents whenever possible. I LOVE times like this when we all get to be together as a BIG family. My SIL always jokes that we remind her of the family from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Except we aren't Greek we are just loud and southern! :)

I shared yesterday about what I made to take to dinner. Luckily for B and the taters the rest of the family knows how to throw down in the kitchen! Here is a little taste of what everyone else brought. ﻿﻿

My momma is the pie master of the family!

A portion of the spread

Before dinner we had a little program and told the story of the first Thanksgiving. Then we read the 112, 113, and 114 Psalms. We go around the room every year and all tell something we are thankful for. It's a big warm fuzzy fest and makes me so glad to be a part of our family. This year my nephew was thankful for Jesus dying on the cross. Ellie Rose was thankful for her baby dolls. Oy! Next year we will probably have to "rehearse" with the taters a bit for Thanksgiving circle time. Haha.

After dinner we all relax, recline, read black Friday ads and talk about what the best deals are. Even though we full well know that none of us are going to get up early to go to the sales. We are after all loud, southern, non-morning people! Yesterday the weather here was super nice so we were able to play outside. Thankful I live in a place where this is possible even in late November. Our family doesn't really do the cold weather thing very well. From December to February we can all usually be found inside, near the fire, under lots of blankets!

AND here comes the photo dump. I accidentally deleted some pics from my camera so my apologies to anyone who I took a pic of but didn't post. Chances are I still love you, but just lost your photo due to technical difficulties this evening.
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Papa Frank and the turkey

Ali, Ashleigh, Roger, and Jonah. Jonah's first Thanksgiving.

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The hubs...he LOVES for me to take his picture :)

Papa Bill with Brey and Ellie

Sweet cousins eating dinner together

My pretty momma with the taters

You gotta watch my dad he's a big fan of "candid" photos

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Circle Time. The taters with Ms.Karel and Blake

My Uncle Greg and his girlfriend Arlena

Even Sparky got to join in the fun!

Play time

Funny kiddos

SIL Leah and Blake. He was getting ready to go in to work at Wal-Mart

for the early Black Friday sales. Boo.

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Sista'ly love!

This is what the Erob gets for not being ready at all times for a sibling pic!
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Hope y'all had a great day, made lots of sweet memories, and ate a bit more than you should have. Last year one of the things I was thankful for was fitting into size six skinny jeans again. This year I wore elastic waste pants to dinner. I think that says a lot about how much I may or may not have eaten!

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone has plans for a special day with friends and family. We are getting ready for our feast here at the Farrer house. I'm doing some cooking this morning...no joke. I AM COOKING. Look at my spread. Real ingredients and everything.

I am making my specialities green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole. Actually they aren't so much specialities as they are dishes my fam has realized I am capable of making. They dare not ask me to try something different. Stick with what you know and all. Works for me. Oh yeah, if anyone knows where I can buy boxed sweet potato or green been casserole let me know. I am thinking I might be able to make this cooking thing go a little faster next year!

This time of year I miss having cable because I really really love watching the Macy's Parade. I tried to find somewhere online to watch it live but failed. Maybe I will be able to find it this evening. The kids are watching The Dog That Saved Christmas. They love all movies that involve dogs. Thank you mom for this lovely Christmas classic we can treasure for a lifetime. :) Sparky is in the kitchen hiding and I think hoping the kids don't try to get him to do any of the tricks the dog in the movie does. This Thanksgiving he is thankful for taters who are messy eaters and throw rugs. :)

This year we did a Thankful Tree for the first time. I shamelessly copied it from a friend on FB. I constructed this little tree in the kitchen and each evening the kids think of something they are thankful for then we write it on a tree leaf. It is hard to keep my kids interested in something so I thought since this was sort of interactive they might enjoy it. Here is a picture of our tree earlier this week and the list of the things each kiddo had been thankful for. You can tell they are SUCH deep thinkers. Heehee.

Michael is thankful for: His baby brother, his bed, Grandma and Grandpa, his school, Uncle Roger, the Lord, Daddy and Mommy, his house, his baby sister.

We have so much to be thankful for. Today in particular I am thankful for our family and extended family. We are all so close and supportive of one another. I take this for granted most days, but I realize some folks do not have the type of built in support system I do.

Monday, November 12, 2012

My grandpa passed away this
weekend.Tomorrow we will lay him to
rest.Today I want to spend a little
time remembering him and what he meant to me.My mother in law said recently that we are always stuck remembering
folks as they were when they were old but we should remember that being old was
just a small part of their life.I like
the below photo of my grandpa in his Navy whites and the other of him and my
grandma on their wedding day…not because they are the best photos ever taken
but because even though the pictures are old my grandparents are young, they
are full of life and vitality.That’s
how I want to remember them.As a young girl
I thought that loving someone meant that you would cry when they passed
away.Now that I’m older I realize loving
someone is enjoying the time you spend together, making memories every chance you get, and
cherishing those memories for a lifetime.

For most of my life my grandparents lived
in the same town as me.So growing up I
spent many days and nights at their house. I remember we would go to bed very
early and then wake up before the sun came up.My grandfather would bring coffee into the bedroom and my grandparents
would smoke, drink coffee, and listen to talk radio in the dark while I laid
all propped up between them.They
usually let me drink a little cup of coffee heavy on the cream and sugar.That’s still the way I take my coffee
today.My grandfather was a career Navy
man and he retired early.He spent a lot
of time with my brother and me.He was a
tinkerer so he was always rigging something up to play with.He hung a big rope swing with a homemade carpet
covered wood block as seat from a tree in his front yard and my brother and
I would just play and play on it.He
made a little mini golf course in the front yard and used to play on it with
us.He used to let me roll what little
hair he had in my grandma’s foam rollers.I think he even let me cut it a few times.When I was a toddler he would pull me
around in my little red wagon until I fell asleep.My grandpa taught me how to play black jack,
rummy, and five card stud when I was about five years old.Obviously he was crazy patient, or maybe just
desperate for a card partner.He taught
me how to play checkers, hit a golf ball, and was the first person to let me
drive on the highway when I got my drivers permit.He was
so calm I remember thinking I had better keep control of the car because there
was no way he was jumping over to grab the wheel if something went wrong!

Friends
and family alike would tell you that grandpa “Griff” was a real character in
every sense of the word.He was eccentric.He was a wacky dresser.He even tinkered with his clothing.He would buy jumpsuits and decorate them himself
for different holidays.He dyed
canvas deck shoes to match these different get ups.At his one of his homes he hung a disco ball
from the ceiling light on the front porch and was dang proud of it.He was always trying to get me to smell
something he had made…cookies, stew, corn beef hash.He always thought you needed to smell it in
order to determine if you wanted it.He bought
crazy random off the wall birthday presents, but he was always sure he had
found something you were going to absolutely love.When I was in middle school he had a horn
hooked up in his car that was programmed to play nine different songs. Grandpa would pull up to pick me up after school
and blare “Charge” or “You are My Sunshine” to announce his arrival.Sometimes I was mortified, but most of the
time I was just proud to be the girl with the crazy grandpa.I know I always felt like was proud of
me.The most menial achievements were
grand in his eyes.

I
read once that everything we accomplish in life we do so starting on the foundation
of support, the example, and the love of those who came before us.I think this is true.I know the way my grandpa lived his life and
the way he loved me and others in it gave me the best launching pad I could
have asked for.If I had a chance the
last things I would want to tell my grandpa are Thank you for the time you
invested in me.Thank you for the
memories we made. Thank you for living a life I can look up
to. And I love you. Until we meet again.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Ellie Rose turned three on November 3rd! Due to the sickies floating around our house we just got around to celebrating with our families earlier this week. She was so excited. Her birthday has been a LONG time coming this year. She has been waiting on it since M's birthday on May. :)

We didn't really have a theme. E wanted to wear her cinderella dress for the party. I put together a Krispy Kreme donut cake and meemaw made some cute rice crispy treat cones. Sneaky girl ate at least two donuts before the party ever started! She was a little overwhelmed but had a great time opening her gifts. She got a Disney Princess art set and did a little painting right away.

On her actual birthday aunt Ali was in town, and since the Farrer boys were all sick she took E out for dinner at Mimi's and a special Build A Bear date. She is so lucky to have Ali in her life!

Now for a little trip down memory lane. Sniff sniff. Where did my bitty baby go?!

Birth

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One Year

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Two Years

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Three Years

Before I had kids and maybe even when I only had Michael I thought I would be just fine being a mom to all boys. Now I can't imagine what my life would be like would be like without my sweet beautiful E! Happy Birthday baby girl!

About Me

Hi. My name is Angie. I have a husband and three kids and I work in a button factory. Oh wait, that's not me. I DO have a husband and three kids. I work part time for an apparel company, and full time for my family. My husband Brent is a police officer. We were high school sweethearts and have been married 14 years. This blog is where I share my random thoughts and musings about our every day life.

Michael Brent

M is eight years old, and very much the boss of our little crew. He is the best helper a girl could ask for. He is super smiley and lots of fun. He always has something to say (translate - he talks ALL DAY EVERY DAY).

Ellie Rose

Sweet E is four years old and a middle child mess. She can laugh and cry in the same breath. She is crazy independent, lovey, and nurturing. She calls me "mama" which I love.

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Rhett Franklin

"Tootie" or the "Tyrant Tater" is the baby of the family and he definitely knows it. He is not about to let the older taters get a leg up on him. He is a picky eater, and a so-so sleeper. He has huge blue eyes and the cutest dimples I have ever seen. We are so proud to call him ours.

Georgia Marie

Baby Georgia is our sweet angel who has already went to be with Jesus. She would be six years old today. G was stillborn in 2008 due to an umbilical cord accident. We rejoice in the hope that we will be reunited with her in eternity. Hebrews 6:19